The Riding/Training - Elvis 10/10/12

Quick Sunset Ride on Elvis

Tonight, after work, I got a quick ride in on Elvis.  We worked in dressage tack.  I lunged him first.  His training got a bit side-tracked this summer when he had to  have 8 weeks off due to a nasty hind leg injury that needed stitches.   Also, he has been pulling his front shoes off over-reaching, and that made us lose several weeks over the summer. 
Tonight he went well.  He had much better balance on the circle.  There was  NO cross-firing at the canter, although there was a bit of counter-canter now and again.  He took voice commands quietly and needed very little encouragement with the whip. 
When I got on, he stood quietly and we did some bend/counter bend at the walk as well as trot and halt transitions, turn on the haunches, turn on the forehand and leg yields.  The footing was hard because the arena has not been dragged since the last rain and it was rutted.  So we pretty much stayed on the lunge pathways and I did not try any canter work.  Steering with a direct rein is still a bit of a puzzle for him.

I must remember to tell the farrier there was almost no over-reach clicking today.  Maybe we have solved that conundrum!